How can you overcome resistance to Scrum in your organization?

Change is scary to many so resistance to change is normal and to be expected. Employing traditional organizational change management principles is key and to identify the "WIIFM" (what's in it for me") for the different stakeholder groups. Scrum has many benefits that might not be readily apparent to many teams. Often starting with a pilot or proof of concept team with clear and distinctive metrics can help. But including detractors on those teams and turning them into outspoken champions can quickly change resistance into excitement!

Overcoming resistance to Scrum in an organization requires a strategic approach that addresses both cultural and practical concerns. Here's a step-by-step guide: Education and Awareness, Address Misconceptions, Showcase Success Stories, Provide Training and Support, Start Small, Address Cultural Barriers, Involve Stakeholders, Measure and Communicate Progress, Adapt and Iterate, Lead by Example, By following these steps and addressing both cultural and practical concerns, you can help overcome resistance to Scrum and foster a more agile and collaborative organization.

Overcoming resistance to Scrum or any agile methodology in an organization can be challenging, Approaches you can take are: Education and Training, Address Concerns, Lead by Example, Start Small, Provide Support, Highlight Success Stories, Address Organizational Culture, Involve Stakeholders, Celebrate Achievements, Continuous Improvement. By taking a thoughtful and strategic approach to addressing resistance, you can help facilitate the successful adoption of Scrum within your organization.

Identifying potential barriers to progress is a refined skill, particularly for a Scrum Master committed to continuous improvement. Recently, while collaborating with my team, I observed one member experiencing notable distractions, impacting their focus on assigned tasks. Without assigning blame, I engaged in a constructive conversation to emphasize the importance of focus and its correlation with productivity. Employing a blend of humor and encouragement, I successfully redirected the team member's attention, consequently enhancing Sprint Velocity. This experience underscores the significance of mentoring as a core competency within the realm of Scrum practices

Extremely important to identify why the resistance is there and try to address the concern. Make a case to explain how this will help the organization / team / individual to get the buy in...

We faced a similar situation, some were just not able to understand why we are going this way. Multiple conversations were done to make they understand how this will change things and each individual stand to benefit. By bringing clarity on work, goals, acceptance criteria will make the team more efficient.

One of the main reasons for resistance to Scrum is the lack of awareness or appreciation of the benefits that Scrum can bring to the organization, the teams, and the customers. To overcome this, you need to communicate the value proposition of Scrum clearly and convincingly, using evidence, examples, and testimonials from successful Scrum implementations. You can use channels such as newsletters, presentations, webinars, podcasts, or blogs to spread the message and educate the audience about the benefits of Scrum

Para obtener una mejor comunicación de los beneficios de Scrum hacia cualquier nivel organizacional es primero Adaptar el mensaje, Mostrar ejemplos y tener una comunicación activa durante todo el proceso

Overcoming resistance to Scrum involves education and training, clear communication about benefits, initiating pilot projects, addressing concerns, securing leadership support, highlighting success stories, gradual transition, empowering teams, emphasizing continuous improvement, using metrics for measurement, applying change management principles, providing necessary resources, establishing feedback loops, aligning with organizational culture, and creating a culture of continuous learning. Combining these approaches helps ease the adoption of Scrum in the organization.

Another reason for resistance to Scrum is the lack of knowledge or skills to adopt and practice Scrum effectively. To overcome this, you need to provide adequate training and coaching to the people who are involved or affected by Scrum, such as managers, team members, customers, or stakeholders. You can use methods such as workshops, courses, mentoring, or peer learning to teach and guide the participants on the principles, values, roles, events, and artifacts of Scrum, and how to apply them in their context

One recurring challenge I frequently encounter is the need to slow down to speed up, which entails prioritizing only the most essential projects and activities. By decisively discontinuing activities or projects that lack significant relevance, we create space to dedicate time to training and acquiring new knowledge. Choosing is quitting.

Some just aren't able to understand and continue to resist. Focus energy in moving on with those who fall in line and let them call out benefits to others who are resisting. Resisting the change is a human nature, so important to appreciate those embrace the change. At a point, you just have to put your foot down and take decision, if needed...

A third reason for resistance to Scrum is the feeling of exclusion or disempowerment among the stakeholders who are used to traditional ways of working. To overcome this, you need to involve and empower your stakeholders in the Scrum process, by inviting them to participate in the events, soliciting their feedback, incorporating their suggestions, and giving them autonomy and ownership over their work. You can use techniques such as user stories, personas, story mapping, backlog refinement, sprint review, or retrospective to engage and empower your stakeholders in the Scrum process

Para lograr una mayor aceptación e involucración del equipo es primordial tener total claridad en los roles y responsabilidades de cada miembro del equipo, comunicación siempre abierta, apoyo y confianza, además de el reconocimiento y celebración de los logros

Comunique os benefícios claros do Scrum: Além de envolver os stakeholders, é crucial comunicar de forma clara e convincente os benefícios que o Scrum traz para a organiza??o. Isso pode incluir a entrega de produtos de alta qualidade de forma mais rápida, maior flexibilidade para lidar com mudan?as nos requisitos do projeto e uma cultura de transparência e colabora??o. Ao destacar os resultados positivos que o Scrum pode trazer, você pode ajudar a dissipar preocupa??es e resistências, ganhando o apoio e a ades?o dos stakeholders.

Showcase how the implementation helped the team over a period of time with solid identified metrics which will make the case stronger. Show them the benefit in numbers...Celebrate and appreciate every contribution or effort.

Sin duda, y en base a mi experiencia propia, la mejor forma de eliminar la resistencia a cualquier forma nueva de trabajar (incluido scrum) es mostrar los beneficios que estamos teniendo. Por eso es importante medir, no sólo después, sino antes de hacer el cambio: cuanto era nuestro lead time antes, y ahora?, eso en cuanto revenue se ha convertido, motivación de los equipos antes y después, como nos valoran nuestros clientes, han notado el cambio?... Estos y otros indicadores potentes, nos puede ayudar a transmitir lo positivo del cambio en la forma de trabajar.

Resistance to change is the truth and no one can stop that. Scrum fails at many places because of various reasons. Pls make yourself and your org aware of that. Before scrum accepting change mindset building is important. Making people aware about scrum benefits with real life examples of various organisation with actual data will help a lot. Implementation should always be done in stages. So do POC on 1 2 teams , maintain their metrics and then address it to large audience with this data , it will have different impact. Human mind easily corelates with data and facts. But if just theoretical jargons are thrown at them it will not work.

A fourth reason for resistance to Scrum is the skepticism or doubt about the effectiveness or feasibility of Scrum in the organization’s environment. To overcome this, you need to demonstrate and celebrate the success of Scrum, by showing the tangible results, outcomes, and impacts that Scrum delivers, such as faster delivery, higher quality, better customer satisfaction, or improved business value. You can use metrics, indicators, charts, or reports to measure and showcase the success of Scrum, and use rewards, recognition, or appreciation to celebrate and acknowledge the achievements of the Scrum teams and individuals

Here’s what else to consider: 1) Phased Approach: Start with pilot Scrum projects. Early wins build confidence and ease a larger rollout. 2) Adapt Scrum: Keep the core principles, but tailor Scrum to fit your organization's specific needs. 3) Leadership Support: Secure executives buy-in for resources, cultural change, and overcoming resistance. 4) Continuous Improvement: Regularly review your Scrum process, get feedback, and iterate. This keeps you agile long-term. 5) External Help: Consider a Scrum coach or consultant for guidance and to accelerate your success.

Any resistance to something new stems out from skepticism about need, objective & impact of change. Same applies with adoption of scrum in organizations. While many organizations have adopted scrum making many other follow suit, it essentially requires addressing these concerns. Adopting scrum requires understanding whether its a good fit for company projects, whether workforce can be trained for it, whether core idea of scrum is part of work culture or can be easily inculcated, how will adoption impact, what would impact be if scrum is not adopted & other alternatives, which one weighs heavy & so on. Most organizations fail to assess their readiness for scrum adoption & take things for granted which results into failed adoption of scrum

Resistance to change is natural.Not just in organisations who are undergoing transformation but this is true for any change. In order to help people "welcome change" it's important that they understand the why and the benefits and have the right mindset.This can be achieved by sharing data points, experiences ,training and having an open discussion with them on what they foresee as the challenges. Paying attention to perspectives and opinions are important to guide in the right direction

there are some other factors that you may need to consider when overcoming resistance to Scrum in your organization, such as: The organizational culture and values, and how they align or conflict with the Scrum culture and values . The organizational structure and processes, and how they support or hinder the Scrum way of working . The organizational readiness and maturity, and how they affect the pace and scope of the Scrum adoption . The organizational vision and strategy, and how they guide and motivate the Scrum transformation .

La resistencia al cambio siempre estará presente en cualquier proceso de transformación organizativa. Sin embargo, abordarla de manera proactiva mediante una comunicación clara, la participación activa de los involucrados y un liderazgo empático puede convertirla en una oportunidad para el crecimiento y la mejora continua.